Category:Becoming a Criminal
Theme Analysis
To explain the conditioned state of the living entity, Śrīla Prabhupāda frequently employs the analogy of a state prison system. In a well-functioning society, the government provides universities and opportunities for citizens to become exalted figures, like high-court judges. At the same time, it maintains a prison house for those who violate the law. The government does not force anyone into prison; a citizen ends up there strictly by their own choice to engage in criminality. Similarly, the Supreme Lord provides equal facilities to all living entities. Those who choose to serve Kṛṣṇa remain in the freedom of the spiritual sky, while those who misuse their independence to become criminals are sent to the prison house of the material world.
Śrīla Prabhupāda defines the original spiritual crime clearly: it is the desire to enjoy independently of the Supreme Lord. When a soul forgets Kṛṣṇa and desires to be the supreme enjoyer, they become a criminal and are immediately placed under the police control of material nature (māyā). Once inside this prison, raising the intellectual question of exactly when or how one first became a criminal is ultimately a waste of time. Śrīla Prabhupāda teaches that the intelligent approach for a prisoner is not to ask historical questions, but to figure out how to be released. Furthermore, any attempt to artificially escape the prison of material existence without proper authorization only results in further criminality and extended punishment.
The theme also explores the intricacies of law and consequence. Śrīla Prabhupāda notes that just as breaking a state law—like driving on the wrong side of the road—makes one a criminal, breaking the laws of God makes one sinful. However, liability requires a certain level of consciousness; therefore, animals are not punishable for their actions, whereas humans, who are meant to be guided by education and scripture, are held strictly accountable. Śrīla Prabhupāda also points out the contextual nature of violence: a murderer is a criminal, but a soldier killing on behalf of the state is immune. Ultimately, the cure for criminality is proper spiritual education, which enlightens the soul about the absolute laws of God and the path to true freedom.
- The Prison Metaphor: The material world is a prison house created for those who choose to violate the spiritual laws of the Supreme Lord.
- Free Will and Consequence: God gives everyone equal opportunity; becoming an exalted spiritual being or a suffering criminal is entirely dependent on the living entity's own choices.
- The Original Crime: The root of all criminality is the illusion of wanting to usurp the position of Kṛṣṇa and enjoy the material energy independently.
- Accountability and Sin: While state laws govern civil behavior, the laws of God govern cosmic existence, and human beings are uniquely accountable for their sinful transgressions.
- Explore the synthesized essence of this category in this Vanipedia article: Becoming a Criminal - The Prison House of Material Existence.
Pages in category "Becoming a Criminal"
The following 25 pages are in this category, out of 25 total.
A
- A criminal, if you say: "In the beginning, how he became criminal," is that very intelligent question
- A prisoner cannot go out of the prison house naturally, but somehow or other he arranges to jump over the wall and goes away. Then he becomes a criminal for further imprisonment
- A prisoner, criminal, is living in the prison house since a long time, and if you raise this question, "In the beginning, how he became a criminal," is that very intelligent question
- All these varieties of life are not controlled. He accepts to be controlled. Nature does not want to control you. When you become a criminal, then police force controls you, not that police force is made by the government unnecessarily to control you
- An Australian citizen: he is under the laws of the state of Australia. But if he says: "I don't care for the government," he becomes lawless, and sometimes he becomes criminal, and he is put into the prison life
- As you violate the laws of the state and become a criminal, similarly, as you violate the laws of God, you become sinful. You become sinful. This is the definition of sin and piety. If you follow the rules of God, then you are pious
E
- Education means enlightenment. If you foolishly do something, immediately you become criminal. So education means to enlighten them to know what is right, what is wrong. That is education
- Everything is open. Not that government says that you become a criminal and he prefers somebody, "You become a high-court judge" No. Everything is in your hand. If you like, you can become so
I
- If you kill somebody, then you become criminal. But when a soldier kills hundreds of men, he is not criminal. The process is the same, but because one is acting on behalf of the supreme lawgiver, he is immune
- In a later age, this sati rite became an obnoxious criminal affair because the ceremony was forced upon even an unwilling woman
- It is due to one's work that one becomes a criminal and is therefore put in jail. It is not compulsory for everyone to go to jail. As living entities, we have our proper place in Vaikunthaloka
J
- Just like if a man is killed. If a man is killed and there are so many persons implicated, it does not mean that only one who has killed, he becomes criminal. All others who are implicated in that killing business, they are criminals. This is pollution
- Just like if you have become criminal and you are arrested by the state. Suppose you are millionaires. Your money will save you? No. That will not save
O
- Ordinarily, just like in your country (USA), "Keep to the right." If you drive your car on the left side, immediately you become a criminal
- Ordinary, anyone can understand that in the human society if you want to become high-court judge, you can become. And if you want to become a criminal in the prisonhouse, you can become
T
- The government may create a prisonhouse, but why do you go there? Does the government invite you there? No, you become a criminal and go there
- There are many unmanifested living entities covered by the mode of ignorance who will gradually come to the mode of passion. Most of them will become criminals because of their fruitive activities and again fill the prisons
- There are so many nice example, that if an ordinary man beats another man, slap, he immediately becomes criminal. Law is there, "You cannot do that." But if policeman gives you a slap, it is not criminal
- Thief knows he has heard it from law books that stealing is not good, and from religious scripture also, that "It is sinful. Do not commit theft. Do not become criminal" But still he does
W
- We do not belong to this material creation, but we have come here. Just like one does not belong to the prisonhouse, but by his own action he comes to the prisonhouse. He becomes criminal, and therefore he is put into the prisonhouse. By his own activity
- When the (sati rite) rite became a formality only and force was applied upon a lady to follow the principle, actually it became criminal, and therefore the ceremony was to be stopped by state law
Y
- You become under the police control, if you become criminal. And what is that criminality? The criminality is that krsna bhuliya jiva bhoga vancha (Prema-vivarta). Krsna is the original enjoyer, God
- You have got practical experience that if you violate the law of the state you become criminal and punished. But if the cats and dogs or animals, they violate the law, they are not punishable